(A High Burden The Growing Cost Of Permitting Compliance In Arizona’s Home Improvement Market — April 23, 2026)
A new Common Sense Institute analysis of nearly 2.8 million building permit records across 29 Arizona jurisdictions found that obtaining a permit adds an average of 23 days to residential project completion times, with each additional day of permitting time associated with roughly four additional days of total project time. Arizona’s 106 separate permit-issuing jurisdictions each set their own codes, fees, and timelines, creating wide variation in costs and delays even for identical, routine projects like roof replacements and HVAC upgrades. The report finds that streamlining reforms such as automated permitting platforms and self-certification programs can cut approval times dramatically without reducing local government staffing or budgets.
